The Best Protein Sources

You know a protein-rich diet can help you drop pounds—but are you reaching for the right foods?

The Best Protein SourcesYou know a protein-rich diet can help you drop pounds—but are you reaching for the right foods?

Quick—which has more protein: an egg, or an ounce of mozzarella? Believe it or not, the cheese actually has about 16 percent more protein. You might want to write that down, especially if you’re one of the forty-three percent of women who say they eat a protein-rich diet to help prevent weight-gain, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

It’s a smart strategy: In the study, amping up protein intake was related to self-reported weight loss. There’s only one problem. If you don’t know how much of the nutrient is in the food you’re eating, then you can’t be sure that your diet actually packs as much protein as you think.

The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for protein is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight, says Lisa Young, PhD, RD, a nutritionist in New York City, and author of The Portion Teller. If you’re trying to lose weight, she recommends upping your intake to 1 gram per kilogram of body weight (that comes to 59 grams a day for a 130-pound woman) and consuming a variety of different protein sources. And, of course, you’ll still need to exercise.